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are Battisti and the Trentino 

by Dr. Giovanni Lorenzoni of Trento 






i ril:POLAPO,OBMri?feTIXHE IITVI^PE L/4CCI0FE SAtRC 



Published by the 
Italian Bureau of Public Information 
New York February 1919 






Cesare Battisti and the Trentino 

(Feb. 4, 1875-July 12, 1916) 

A sketch of his life, character and ideals 

by Dr. Giovanni Lorenzoni of Trento 

with an appendix on the Venezia Tridentina 
thirteen illustrations and one map 



"O Italy, thy martyrs are our own, 
And the whole world's redeemed again by Love. 
Nothing more sacred is than life, except 
The joy of its surrender. Mother of grief, 
Help us to forget not what it cost to write 
In blood across thy borderland the words 
'Italia Redenta' " 

— Robert Underwood Johnson 



hy jltermission of 
the author from 
his Poem "Italia 
R^edenta' 



! V 



Note on the Author 

Dr. Giovanni Lorenzoni, born in Trentino, 1873, was a 
friend of C'esare Battisti and liis companion for a while at the 
University. He was fifteen years ago professor of Political 
Economy at the Italian Department of the University at Inns- 
l)rnck. After this department was closed in 1905 by the imposi- 
tion of the pan-germanists, he went to Italy, where he was en- 
trnsted with several missions by the Italian Government. The 
most important of these was an inquiry upon social conditions 
in Sicily, which lasted three years. The results of these investi- 
gations were published in his book, "Sicilia" (two vols. Tip. del 
Senato Eome, 1910). In the years 1911-1915 lie was General 
Director of the International Institute of Agriculture, founded 
by the King of Italy, in Rome, at the suggestion of an American 
citizen, Mr, David Lubin, of California, and in which fifty-four 
countries, including the United States, are represented. Dr. 
Lorenzoni left this position in 1915 to volunteer in the Royal 
Italian Army Alpine Corps, where he served for twenty months. 
When captain he was called back by the Italian Government, 
which had appointed him professor at the Royal University of 
Macerata. He is now Vice-President of the Political Association 
Italiani Irredenti, of Rome (Trentino Section), which practically 
includes all Trentino people. At present he is on a special mis- 
sion in the United States for this society and for the redeemed 
countries together with Colonel Pizzarello and Dr. Furlani. 

Tpie Italian BrREAU of Public Ixfoemation. 



PREFACE 

Having the pleasure of being in America as a reijresentative 
of the Italian regions now redeemed from Austria, together witli 
Colonel Pizzarello and Dr. Furlani, I have had the opportunity 
of realizing that the American pulilic is greatly interested in the 
])roblems of the Trentino and the Adriatic, because of which 
Italy mainly entered the war. 

But I also noticed that the English literature on those prob- 
lems was very scant. On this fact mostly depends the rather 
limited knowledge the English-speaking people have of the prin- 
cipal dates and episodes concerning our war and the part taken 
in it by the population of the then unredeemed provinces. 

Having had the privilege of knowing Cesare Battisti since his 
youth and of having lieen one of his friends, I was induced to 
publish this pamphlet on him. This work is an amplifi- 
cation of a lecture that I gave on this subject in some American 
cities. I have reproduced in it several of C^esare Battisti 's let- 
ters, which were already ]niblished b}" me in the "Xuova An- 
tologia" of July 15, 1916, and some others which became known 
to me afterwards. 

I would be really glad if this modest work of mine could con- 
tribute towards intensifying the interest that the great and 
nol)le people of America have for our sacred cause, which is, at 
the same time, the cause of all the Allies. 

Sixty-six times the barbarians invaded Italy when in control 
of Venezia Tridentina (Trentino and Upper Adige). From now 
on this must be stopped. For that purpose Italy must possess 
her natural frontier, the high wall which divides the north from 
the south, the watershed between the Black Sea and the Adriatic 
Sea, right and left of the Brennero Pass wdiere, since last No- 
vember, our victorious flag is floating. 

It is with deep satisfaction that I can state that no objections 
have been formulated in this country against the just claims of 
Italy on this point. The American people have understood very 
clearly that Italy, claiming her natural border in the Alps, was 
acting not only in defence of herself Init also in defence of all 
the Allies against the dangers of Pan-Germanism. 

Dk. Giovanni Loeenzoni. 
Xew York, February 8, 3 91 9. 

Page fi-vc 



Digitized by the Internet Archive 
in 2011 with funding from 
The Library of Congress 



http://www.archive.org/details/cesarebattistitr01lore 



Cesare Battisti and the Trentino 

(Feb. 4, 1875-July 12, 1916) 

GESAEE BATTISTI is one of the few men who can be 
called really great because of what they were and what 
the}^ did. Great, above all, because of the wonderful 
sacrifice of his life for an idea. 

He was born in Trento, February 4, 1875, of wealthy par- 
ents, and at Trento he completed his first academic studies. 
The first years of his youth he was rather delicate in health; 
the systematic cultivation of sport gave him strength, and he 
finally acquired such endurance as not only to withstand the 
hardships of s^ven months' service in the high mountains as a 
simple private in the Alpini, but, as he writes, even "getting 
fat." 

Physically Battisti was handsome. Tall, slender, his move- 
ments naturally graceful; dark, intelligent eyes animated his 
fine, pallid features framed by thick, black, somewhat curly 
hair. Age and experience did not mar his looks, rather they 
added majesty and strength. 

Bodily strength was matched by an equally vigorous mind. 
Never did I see Cesare Battisti tired, and yet the amount of 
work he took upon himself was enormous. Already as a stu- 
dent he was not satisfied to attend only one miiversity; while 
attending courses in history and geography at the Regio Isti- 
tuto Superiore in Florence and attaining his degree in these sub- 
jects with the highest number of points, he was at the same 
time studying law at the University of Graz, where he also took 
the prescribed examinations, and where I had the pleasure of 
being his companion and friend. 

His mind was not given to abstract research or theoretical 
speculations, but to the investigation and examination of prac- 
tical problems affecting the welfare of his country, which was 
the sole object of his work as a scientist, journalist, politician 
and soldier. 

In fact, almost all his writings deal with Trentino ; the prin- 
cipal one, entitled "II Trentino," published in 1898, is an ad- 

Page seven 



CESARE BATTISTI AND THE TREXTIXO 




Page eight 



CESARE BATTISTI AND THE TRENTINO 

mira])le antiiropo-geograi^hic essay, conceived and written after 
tlie method and classical style of the great Elisee Eeelns. 

Battisti never wasted a moment of his time; he studied 
when traveling, and when serving various short terms of im- 
prisonment imposed by the Austrian Government because of his 
political activities. In the evenings, instead of resting or fre- 
quenting cafes (where he was never seen), he visited the la- 
borers and workingmen in their meetings in order to explain his 
ideas to them, do propaganda work and educate them. 

Alone he managed the daily newspaper he had founded, ''II 
Popolo." At the same time he was editor of a scientific review 
on Trentino studies, called "Tridentum," and also of an illus- 
trated weekly review, "Vita Trentina. " Thus his journalistic 
activities alternated with his scientific work and the management 
of his printing establishment, which issued not only the above- 
mentioned magazines, but also other publications, some of them 
quite voluminous ; among them we may mention his Guides to 
Trentino, written in three languages, which Battisti compiled 
himself for the Society Encouraging Foreign Tourists. 

Sundays, summer and winter, he left the city to hold con- 
ferences in the valleys, or to make some geographic or geologic 
investigations in the mountains. He used a bicycle as often as 
possible, eating his frugal repast in the shadow of some tree 
along the way. 

His greatest pleasure was to betake himself to the high 
mountains, preferably alone ; alone he climbed over the rocks or 
ventured on the treacherous glaciers. But the pure sport of 
such mountain wanderings was almost always combined with 
some practic; oject — toponymic, geological, chartographical, 
or even military investigations, which he placed at the disposal 
of the Italian Government in this war. 

He was a man of few w^ords — also in this respect a true 
mountaineer. To him words were actions. He did not like to 
speak except before a large public or in the closest intimacy. 
The distinguished woman who l)ecame his wife soon after they 
both received their Doctor's Degree in the same university, told 
me that even in the privacy of his family he was not loquacious. 
She recounted, however, that on quiet summer evenings he en- 

Page nine 



CESARE BATTISTI AND THE TRENTINO 

joyed taking her aside to their own little garden and speaking 
to her in the fullness of his heart, softly and tranquilly, like a 
confiding child, while the stars were sparkling in the sky of 
Trento not unlike the ceiling of a great cathedral supported by 
mountain pillars. 

In puJjIic he spoke like a lion and a leader. He looked the 
ideal orator, imposing in appearance and voice. Above all, the 
immense force of his inner conviction transmitted itself irre- 




The Cathedral of Trento 

sisti])ly to liis hearers. He was the opposite of rhetorical; but 
his words so pulsated with dramatic feeling as to convince from 
the very first. He never flattered the masses, never sought 
popularity; he liked to lead, not to be led. 

For himself he asked nothing, always giving and never re- 
ceiving. To carry on his national socialistic propaganda he 
sacrificed his private fortune, being content to live very mod- 
estly on his earnings as writer and publisher. 

Cesare Battisti^ had he so desired, could have acquired 
riches, honors, and an exalted social position. Had he entered 

Page ten 



CESARE BATTISTI AND THE TRENTINO 

Italian public life, he would soon have attained one of the high- 
est posts. But all this he disdained, preferring to remain in his 
little Trentino that nature had made a guardian of northern 
Italy, and therefore must be defended at all costs. He was at- 
tached to his country and was like one of those majestic pines 
that thrive only in the soil where they are born and cannot be 
uprooted without dying. 

All his activities were carried on in the Trentino up to tlie 
beginning of the war. Wearisome work, mostly obscure, diffi- 
cult, hardly understood, often opposed by the public, which al- 
lowed itself to be won, little by little, by this great fighter. It 
was only recently, just before the war, that Battisti became 
probably the most universally beloved man in Trentino, par- 
ticularly by the young men, who saw in him the esthetic em- 
bodiment of the ideal of their youth and of the highest spirit 
of their country. 

He entered Trentino public life as a socialist. Who was not 
a socialist in Italy between the years 1893 and 1898? That was 
the heroic period of Italian socialism, preached from the chair 
by Antonio Labriola, agitated by Bissolati and Turati — at that 
time brothers more than friends — at meetings, in the press and 
in Parliament. 

The socialist ideal of that time did not take the form of an 
ideal of class ; it was more a very high human principle sup- 
posed to be capable of transforming mankind for the common 
good. Such a socialist was Battisti, and the great task he had 
set himself was to convert the mass of Trentino laborers and 
peasants to socialism as he understood it. 

This stand on his part, however, quite new for our country, 
immediately provoked the opposition of the clerical party for 
obvious reasons, and also caused some preoccupations in the 
old liberal national party, which feared that the theoretical 
internationalism preached by the socialists might weaken the 
national sentiments of the masses. For a time it really seemed 
as if the apprehensions of the liberals and nationalists were 
justified. But two or three years' experience sufficed for Bat- 

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CESARE BATTISTI AND THE TRENT IX O 




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CESARE BATTISTl AND THE TRENT IN O 

tisti to improve liis policy along national lines withont in any 
wRj disavowing his socialistic ideas. 

If socialism signified opposition to all tyranny, what greater 
oppression demanding redress was there to be fonnd in the 
Trentino than that of Anstria, encamped as mistress on onr 
soil? If socialism signified the elevation of the masses, how 
could this be attained while tolerating and acquiescing in their 
continued subjugation l)y a foreign power? 

Hence Battisti, from being purely a socialist, soon became 
both socialist and irredentist, and tliis he always remained. It 
was mostl}'^ due to him that in the Trentino we do not find, as 
in other countries, o|)position of the socialistic ideal to the ideal 
of irredentism ; the Trentino socialist party was at the same 
time sincerely Italian and patriotic. 

Battisti soon occupied a leading position not only with re- 
gard to his party, but in the general public opinion of the coun- 
try. One of the best opportunities presented itself in tlie matter 
of the Italian university, as we shall now see. 

Since 1866, after the downfall of Venetia, the Italians remain- 
ing under Austrian rule asked that a university of their own be 
established at Trieste, the most important Italian city of Aus- 
tria, since they would no longer be able to attend the Univer- 
sity of Padua. Support and justification of such a demand was 
to be found in the Austrian constitution itself, an article of 
which guaranteed "equality of treatment to all nationalities," 
including the right of eacli nationality to study in its own lan- 
guage. 

Austria constantly refused to make any concessions, and it 
was not until about 1897 that a few Italian courses in law and 
social science were instituted at the German university of Inns- 
bruck. These concessions were of small account, however, and 
students as well as the public refused to recognize them for 
more than that, while the agitation for an Italian university at 
Trieste increase<l. 

Paffe thirlcen 



GESARE BATTISTI AND THE TRENTINO 

Austria refused to accede to this demand ; instead, as a pal- 
liative, the number of Italian courses was increased from two 
to four, and then to six. The people of Trentino while always 
considering those courses as a sort of account, tried for olwious 
reasons to make certain that the instructors should he not only 
competent scientifically, hut undenial)ly Italian in thought, so as 
to form the nucleus of the future university. Their deputies at 
Vienna were therefore charged to insist that the incumbents be 
chosen either in Italy or the irredente provinces. Their demands 
were granted in part. Austria refused to call to the chair of 
Criminal Law Scipio Sighele, born in Trentino, well known to 
scholars both in Italy and elsewhere, but she accepted the desig- 
nation of other men who now are teaching in the universities of 
Bologna and Turin, and others who later attained important 
positions in Italy. 

The Italians demanded that those courses be created as an 
independent Faculty of Law with the seat in Trieste, but the 
government acceded to this demand only in part. 

An independent Italian School of Law was in reality 
established, but its seat w^as in the German city of Innsbruck 
instead of the Italian city of Trieste. A truly Austrian adjust- 
ment, which, of course, did not satisfy the Italians, who decided, 
however, not to deny the school their support — nor did it please 
the Germans, who did not limit themselves to demanding its 
transfer to other than German soil, but protested at the same 
time that ''there was no more room for higher institutions of 
learning in Austria outside of German." And they calmly an- 
nounced that they would use force to i^revent the continuance 
of the school. 

The Italians took u]) the challenge with the cry, "On to 
Innsbruck," supported by Battisti in his paper, "II Popolo." 
Thus early in November, 1904, over two hundred Italian stu- 
dents gathered at Innsbruck to attend the opening of the School 
on November 3rd. Battisti was with them, and I can still see 
him sitting before me during my opening lecture in the midst of 

Page fourteen 



CESARE BATTISTI AND THE TRENTINO 

all those students, wlio filled even the corridors, each listening to 
the lecture as well as to the sounds from the street, appre- 
hensive of trouble. 

The day passed quietly, however. But not so the evening; 
on leaving a social reunion, the Italian students were all at- 
tacked by a crowd of German students, who basely insulted 
them. The Italians gave proper retaliation, and when a 
large crowd came to the assistance of the Germans and sur- 
rounded the Italians, they were forced to use firearms in their 
own defense. In consequence there were several wounded, both 
German and Italian. The noise of pistol shots brought the city 
police upon the scene; only 12 German students were arrested, 
while there w^ere 138 Italians imprisoned, among them Gesare 
Battisti. 

The next day a veritable revolution broke out in Innsbruck. 
The populace ran through the streets of the city destroying and 
demolishing everything Italian, attacking unchecked any indi- 
viduals suspected of being Italian, and finally demolishing the 
Italian Law School building. Only the bare walls were left 
standing. 

Great w^as the outcry that followed, both in the irredente 
provinces and in Italy. Demonstrations were numerous, but a 
significant one which was to have been held at Venice on De- 
cember 18, 1904, was prohibited by the Italian Government for 
fear of serious complications with Austria, whose attitude was 
becoming very threatening. 

In the meantime our students languished in prison with 
Battisti while proceedings were instituted against them. The 
hatred of the Innsbruck inhabitants was such that it was im- 
possible for me, who had the pleasure of taking care of my 
beloved students, to secure any extra food for them in the city. 
I had to have it sent from Trento in postal packages. After a 
month's imprisonment our students were released, as no ten- 
able accusation could be found against them. 

Page fifteen 



CESARE BAT T I ST I AND THE TRENT INO 




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Prtc/i' sixteen 



CESARE BATTISTI AND THE TRENTINO 

The Italian Law School, however, was not reopened, either 
at Innsbruck or elsewhere; thus the mean arrogance of a low 
populace sufficed to deprive the Italians of the very small and 
only concession made them by the Austrian Government. 

The agitation, however, for an Italian university at Trieste 
not only continued, but because of the wrong suffered, grew in 
intensity to such a degree as to become a national Italian ques- 
tion, not merely a question of irredentism. The Italian Minis- 
ter of Foreign Affairs, Signor Tittoni, made it the base of 
negotiations with his colleague, Baron Aerenthal, Minister of 
Austro-Hungarian Foreign Affairs, at the time of the Bosnian 
crisis in 1908, but without result. 

Battisti always remained at the head of the movement for 
an Italian university at Trieste, strongly opposing the accep- 
tance of any compromise that would establish this university 
elsewhere, even in Trentino. 

Another very important question pertaining to Trentino, 
and one in which Battisti took a prominent part, was the ques- 
tion of her administration, which Trentino w^anted to have sep- 
arated from that of the whole province of Tyrol; the so-called 
question of "administrative autonomy" of Trentino. 

It is well known that Trentino was always wholly and ex- 
clusively Latin, and later Italian. At the time of the Romans 
it was the tenth regio italica; under the Lombards it was an 
independent duchy, and had an analogous constitution under 
the Carolingians. In 1027 it was made an independent princi- 
pality, under the Bishop of Trento, which it remained until the 
abolition of ecclesiastical states in 1803. It is true that the po- 
litical "independence" of the principality was very relative; 
the counts of Tyrol, formally its vassals, in reality soon became 
the political rulers under the guise of "ecclesiastical advo- 
cates," but, so far as its administration was concerned, the 
state could in reality call itself autonomous. 

When Trentino passed into the hands of Austria in 1813, 

Page seventeen 



CESARE BATTISTI AND THE TRENTINO 

this, prerogative was lost entirely ; it was simply annexed to the 
German province of Tyrol, even losing its name : not only this, 
but with the Tyrol, was forced to become, in 1818, a part of the 
Germanic Confederation, which always oppo-sed its cession. 

At the Congress of Frankfort, in 1818, the Trentino depu- 
ties made a formal request that Trentino be released from this 
monstrous union, basing their demand on the principle of na- 
tionality, which principle had l^een the reason for calling the 
Congress. They simply asked that Trentino l^e annexed to 
the Kingdom of Lombardy and Venetia, which at that time was 
under Austrian rule. But this just and modest request was 
unanimously rejected by vote. 

One of the German deputies, undoubtedly a direct ancestoi 
of the present Boche, explained his vote thus: "I wear German 
spectacles, and therefore see the world as German. ... I only 
say: Beati possldentes. We have southern Tyrol (as the Ger- 
mans called Trentino), and therefore we shall keep it. That is 
how I understand the right of the people ! Nor do I think that 
I am asking too much when I propose the expulsion of these 
Trentino deputies who, with their request for separation, have 
pronounced their own death sentence " 

The people of Trentino refused to be intimidated by this and 
other threats; when in 1866 their hopes of being freed with 
Venice failed, they renewed their efforts to obtain at least an 
administrative separation from the Tyrol, but always in vain. 
Then it was decided to elect to the Diet at Innsbruck deputies 
who would pledge themselves not to attend, in the hope of ob- 
structing the functions of the Diet, and in this way secure 
autonomy. This method proved fallacious, as the Germans took 
advantage of the absence of the Italians to administer the com^ 
mon funds in a manner scandalously favorable to the German 
part of the province, arousing in our country and in Parliament 
the most violent but at the same time the most useless protests. 

Then another tactic was tried : not absence from the Diet, 
but full attendance for the purpose of holding up measures 

Page e\gJitcen 



CESARE BATTISTI AND THE TRENTINO 

whenever the Italians so desired, in the hope of indneing- the 
Germans to consent to a separate administration of the two sec- 
tions of the province. 

Cesare Battisti was an eloquent advocate of this new move ; 
to fnrther it he was elected a deputy to the Diet, where he made 
several memorable speeches. The new tactics did not secure 
autonomy for Trentino, but they did serve to restrain the too 
insolent protectionism favoring the German part of the prov- 
ince. 

Battisti 's stand in national questions and his own patriotic 
sentiments which he had been able to transmit to the people, 
facilitated his election to Parliament in 1911, when at the elec- 
tions by second ballot for the electoral district of Trento the 
liberals added their vote to that of the socialists. In Parlia- 
ment lie did not represent a party, but was truly the deymty 
of Trentino. 

In an admirable speech before the House of Deputies at 
Vienna on December 12, 1912, against the military dictatorship 
in Trentino and the provocative policies of Austria against 
her ally, Italy, Battisti closed with the memorable words : "We 
demand that these mad policies be brought to an end. If in 
the Austrian bureaucratic repertory there be a fitting phrase, it 
is the phrase designating as 'irresponsible power' that of cer- 
tain men. No matter what his name, be he the heir to the 
throne or someone else responsible for this policy of compres- 
sion against Trentino, of waste and danger for all the people of 
Austria, no matter who the man, he is in reality irresponsible, 
insane, a man destined for the mad-house. We, therefore, rebel 
in the name of civilization and humanity and demand that such 
government be brought to an end ; that the war party, this para- 
sitic militarism, be done aw^ay with together with the madmen 
who are its leaders." 

The political and national struggle in Trentino grew ever 

Page nineteen 



CESARE BATTISTI AND THE TRENTINO 

more difficult and intense. The existing Pan-Germanic societies 
redoubled their aggressive and corruptive activities ; new so- 
cieties sprang up disguised under Italian names, while the au- 
thorities showed more and more openly that they favored the 
Germauization movement; on demand of the militarists Tren- 
tino was transformed into one great fortress and three-fourths 
of the militar}" force of the province (more than an army 
corps) was removed to Trentino. The activities of the Pan- 
Germanists, disguised as tourists, employees and soldiers, be- 
came so provocative and created such an oppressive atmosphere 
that the only way out seemed to be war, the Germans thereby 
hoping to kill irredentism by annihilating the Italians, the Irre- 
dentists hoping to become united to Italy. But during those 
years, from 1911 to 1914, who imagined the w^ar so imminent? 

Italy w^as an ally of the Central Powers, but while in Austria 
and Trentino undoubted signs were not lacking as to the Aus- 
trian distrust of Italy, which distrust often assumed a threat- 
ening attitude, and the military party made no secret of its 
hostile intentions, Italy did not seem to realize the full signifi- 
cance of these facts. So she maintained a weak military policy, 
which made us fear increased servitude to the Triple Alliance 
for some time. 

Thus Trentino had no choice but to resist until a more pro- 
pitious time, meanwhile demonstrating to Italy and to the world 
in a thousand ways her true faith and eternal aspirations. 

An especially favorable opportunity was offered to Trentino 
in 1912, when His Majesty, King Victor Emanuel, passed 
through Trentino on his way to Germany to attend the military 
manoeuvres. The Austrian government, anxious to have this 
passage take place in an almost clandestine manner, kept the 
time secret and saw to it that no one could get into the stations 
from Ala to Salorno ; the only news that leaked out was that 
the King would pass through in the evening. 

The royal train, in fact, left Ala shortly after 8 P. M. Sud- 
denly, a mysterious signal from the station having given the 

Page Hvcnty 



CESARE BATTISTI AND THE TRENTINO 

hint, a great flaming fire was started on the mountain peaks 
snrronnding Ala, and eonntless fires on the ridges stretching 
along the railroad from Ala to Salorno answered the mysteri- 
ous call, in succession, all along the way. 

Who had thought of such a demonstration! Cesare Bat- 
tisti. AVho put it into execution? The students. Meanwhile, 
down the valley, hundreds of people whom the flaring fires had 
made aware of the happenings, ran to the railroad, swarming 
along its banks and loudly calling on the King of Italy to come 
back in these lands not as a guest, but as the rightful king. 

Who would have imagined then that that ardent desire 
would be realized only six years later? 

The murder of Grand Duke Franz Ferdinand in June, 1914, 
hit the world like a stroke of lightning. In Trentino the peo- 
ple soon realized that very likely it would precipitate a war. 
But what kind of a war? The war for freedom, or the war of 
an Italy allied with Austria? 

For several days, even after Austria's official declaration of 
war on Serbia and all the other subsequent war declarations 
that followed at short notice, we remained in a state of incerti- 
tude. Moreover, Austria was artfully spreading news that Italy 
had decided to fight shoulder to shoulder with the Central 
Empires ; of trainloads of Bersaglieri having been seen cross- 
ing Trentino on their way to Germany. This unheard of event 
took place : in Trento, in front of the Dante monument, military 
bands were actually playing the Italian royal march, and popu- 
lar demonstrations of Italian patriotic feelings were encouraged 
in various towns by the authorities themselves. 

Our consternation was keen, indeed; well we knew that Aus- 
tria would not consent to make concessions to Italy, not even 
of Trentino, in repayment for Italy's participation in the war; 
that awful war that began with the assassination of Serbia, the 
violation of Belgium and the invasion of France. 

When the truth became known that Italy had declared her- 

Page Hventy-one 



CESARE BATTISTI AND THE TRENTINO 



self neutral, the joy in Trento was great. A little digres- 
sion here, by your leave, is timely; it is justified by some un- 
warranted reflections we find these daj^s (December, 1918) in 
some papers regarding Italy's participation in the war. It is 
rather emphatically asserted that Italy entered the war on the 
conclusion of a bargain, having first carefully weighed the in- 
ducements and the sacrifices, just as a business man would 
show some unwillingness to enter a deal if not satisfied before- 
hand that he is to reap more profit than loss from the enter- 
prise. 

Now, we ask, what bargain could Italy have made in 
1914? None. She did not have even the time necessary to that 
end. She was not warned of her allies' intentions until the very 
eve of the war. How could she have bargained her neutrality 
so suddenly in favor of France, England and Russia? And still 
Italy's self-determined neutrality was quite sudden. Did not 
that move smack of a declaration of war with opening of hostili- 
ties more or less deferred! Nobody, either in Italy or abroad, 
was blind to the fact that the Central Empires would only bide 
their time for taking their revenge. Even at that time their 
papers called Italy's neutrality the "treason of their ally." 

Moreover, Italy was then absolutely unprepared for war — 
England had no army, and the Central Group was beyond a 
doubt the stronger of the contending parties. Italy faced this 
storm, defiantly crossing her arms and making it known to 
France that she had nothing to fear from her, Italy. Did not 
this attitude of Italy strongly help to make possible the great 
victory of the Marne, in September, 1911? And, pray, what 
deal did Italy close at that time? None. Bright with the light 
of her enthusiasm, she risked her entire future. She was roused 
by those vevj principles that led the United States into the war 
— liberty and democracy. 

• If, later on, after nine months, and before entering the field 
of battle, Italy clearly set down her demands, what is there to 
wonder at i" She simply asked that her rights be acknowledged 
to those lands which nature, culture, and ethnography point out 
to be her own. France, too, asserted that no peace be concluded 

Pafft' Kventy-tivo 



CESAR E BATTISTI AND THE TRENTINO 

which would not consider the restitution, without compro- 
mise, of Alsace-Lorraine. But, and this meminisse jiivabit, 
Italy, by her neutrality, accomplished the first determined acts 
of hostility against the Central Empires, asking for nothing, 
and at a moment when these countries Avere at the height of 
their power and she was altogether unprepared. AYe will now 
resume our theme. 

Cesare Battisti came to Italy towards the end of August, 
1914, together with his family, passing through, unobserved, on 
a train containing Italian immigrants that were returning home. 
He was no sooner in Italy than, first of all, he placed himself at 
the disposal of the Italian authorities, as well as all the valu- 
able military material he had gathered in Trentino, his wide 
knowledge of localities and his valuable experience. He de- 
clared himself even ready to invade Austrian soil with armed 
bands of warm-hearted joatriots for the purpose of provoking 
frontier incidents if such course was deemed useful to the fur- 
thering of Italian policies. But the moment had not yet come. 
Italy still had preparations to make, not only along military 
lines, but also in regard to her policies and the morale of the 
people. 

To this work Battisti gave his whole soul, contributing the 
energies of his heart and of his oratory. He stumped in every 
Italian city of anj^ importance. He welcomed objections — they 
added zest to his speeches and enhanced their didactic value. It 
was rather uphill work. Popular feeling against war ran high, 
and many interests were keen in keeping them so, either in 
good faith or in bad faith. In bad faith were the enemies of 
Italy, the open or secret agents of the Central Empires. In 
good faith were the other objectors, the upholders of the old 
Triple Alliance policy. They were to be feared as much as the 
faint-hearted and the hopeless lackers, who did not expect Italy 
to stand the burden of the war more than three months. 

To this class of people Prince von Buelow addressed his 
sugared words; with them he tried to strike bargains; prac- 
tising the very ancient trade of selling somebody else's wares, 
he offered Italy first a part of Trentino, then another one a 

Paffe Hventy-three 



ITALY AND THE ] 



Territory which is 
to be restored to 
Italy in accordance 
with the Treaty of 
London of April, 
1915 is indicated 
by the solid black 
sections. 




TYRRHENIAN 

^SARDINIA 



'»\vW 



SEA 




ADEEMED LANDS 



SrrRIA -HUNGARY 




In this map which 
has been repro- 
duced from "Italy 
To-Day" (Vol. 1. 
No. 7) the portion 
designated as 
Southern Tyrol 
corresponds to the 
part called Upper 
Adige in this 
pamphlet, and 
which, together 
with Trentino 
forms the Venezia 
Tridentina. 



CESARE BATTISTI AND THE TRENTINO 

little larger, then lie offered somewhat more, even on the east- 
ern side, on condition that Italy kept quiet and refrained from 
joining the fray. 

The temptation was not small. Here Battisti's charac- 
ter, expressive of the spirit of his people from Trentino, 
appears to great advantage. Even when the return of the 
entire Trentino was promised, he, a resident of Trentino, did not 
hesitate to protest against the omission of the other unre- 
deemed countries. And he declared that none of the residents 
of Trentino would even think of forsaking and abandoning their 
brothers from the Adriatic, to Austria, as a price for their own 
liberation. "Either everything or nothing." That was his 
watchword in those days, as it was on former occasions during 
his political struggles in Trentino. 

For a time it almost looked as if the coalition of the pacifists, 
the downhearted, and the "triplicists" was to get the upper 
hand. Who can ever forget the days of May, full of anxiety, 
when Minister Salandra wanted to retire, while Giovanni Gio- 
litti was coming to the fore with the offer of the "parecchio" — 
that is, the many inducements'? 

For Cesare Battisti, as well as for the true Trentino people, 
these were very thrilling times. Battisti displayed in those days 
a tremendous activity, and in Rome his voice sounded, together 
with the voice of our greatest living poet, Gabriele d'Annunzio. 
The healthy conscience of the Italian people won; Italy reso- 
lutely preferred the way of Camillus, Caesar, Garibaldi — not 
the way urged by Prince Buelow. On the 24th of May, 1915, 
the bells of the Capitol belfry rang joyously for the victory 
Italy had achieved over herself. War was declared. On that 
day, from the Capitol, Cesare Battisti launched to the count- 
less crowds his famous appeal: "Everyone to the frontier — 
everyone with arms or with heart ! ' ' 

The following day he enlisted as a private and left for 
Edolo in the Fifth Regiment of the Alpine Corps. Soon after- 
ward he was sent to the border with his battalion, to the high 
mountains confronting the Tonal e Pass to the north. 

Page tzce/ity-six 



CESARE BATTISTI AND THE TRENTINO 

For seven long months lie remained a private, sharing equally 
with his companions, the privations and dangers of the war as 
it is w^aged in the high mountains — and he no longer possessed 
the resiliency of youth. Never in those days did he utter a 
querulous word; he accepted his lot with the humility of an 
ascetic and the stout heart of a volunteer. 





Cesarc Battisti in the Unitonn ot the Alpini 

If he expressed the desire of securing a commission as lieu- 
tenant, it was for the purpose of extending a little more heip 
to his poor, stranded family; "as for myself," he writes, "I 

Page ticcrity-sc-ven 



CESARE BATTISTI AND THE T RENTING 

would be contcmt to remain a private to the finish." 

His companions were peasants, sheplierds and cattle herders 
from the highlands of Bergamo, a strong race hiding their nat- 
ural goodheartedness under a rough exterior. Thus does he 
speak of them: ''These Alpine soldiers from Bergamo (he 
writes August 7th) form a select body of troopers chosen from 
a select race of mountaineers; they are indeed giants. You 
should have seen them yesterday scaling crags during the night, 
liootless, so as to avoid the least noise, carrying cannons on 
their shoulders up nearly ten thousand feet, the thermometer 
in the meantime registering several degrees below zero. Then 
I saw them when they came back, wild with joy, carrying the 
trophies of their conquest — munitions, bombs, grenades, search- 
lights, etc. They perform actual miracles and undergo the 
severest hardships with indomitable fortitude." 

But that war of positions, although of the hardest kind, was 
not enough to quench his warlike ardor, his craving for sacri- 
fice, his constant yearning to do something more. He desires 
to be sent to the Isonzo, where the guns roar louder, where, he 
believes, the war of movements is imminent, 

"I asked," he writes, "to be transferred to the Isonzo, or at 
least to some sector where the prospects of a forward move- 
ment — of actual fighting — are good where there is something to 
do — where I can not only conform to my duty, but aiso satisfy 
the legitimate ambition to show that our Ergisto Bezzi's teach- 
ings made a lasting impression on the young Italian genera- 
tion." ; :■ 

He was denied the transfer to the Isonzo, but several en- 
counters took place in the sector where he was stationed; he 
had his good share in them, displayed unusual valor, and was 
decorated for gallantry. 

Nor is the Austrian army the only foe they have to contend 
with; there is also the w^inter that comes early, the blizzards, 
that even in summer send the mercury down several degrees 
below zero. "Up here," he still w^rites to the same friend, "we 
are having devilish cold weather; out of seven days, five are 

Page t^i^cnty- eight 



CESARE BATTISTI AND THE TRENTINO 

blizzard days and two are gun-play days. It is a very hard life 
because almost all positions are carried after difficult climbs. 
Winds and blizzards are doing their worst, where there is not 
even room enough to build a shack. Sections of our corps are 
camping on peaks at an elevation of about nine thousand feet, 
where they look like eagle's nests." 

From the Tonale he is sent to the Adamello — that is to say, 
to a much higher mountain — where he takes part in various 
encounters under the most aAvful circumstances amid the snow 
and the storms. On the 7th of November, he writes : ' ' The 
other day we were engaged in action at an altitude of more 
than 10,000 feet, standing in the snow from four o'clock in the 
morning until late in the evening — still w^e got off untouched 
either by the frost or the persistent attacks of enemy artillery. 
But gallantry and luck are not sufficient to make an advance; 
all the encounters we have brought to a successful end were 
tactically impaired by the fury of the blizzards; some nights 
the temperature was as low as twenty-three degrees C. below 
zero." 

At last, in December, 1915, he is given his commission as 
lieutenant and takes leave from the Fifth Alpine Regiment — 
feelingly, because he had grown fond of his "gallant Berga- 
maschi" — and enters the Sixth Regiment, assigned to the Monte 
Balclo sector. Here he finds conditions quite different from 
those he experienced on the Adamello. Although the ther- 
mometer marks an equally low temperature, still the cold is far 
more endurable. Here he helps in the construction of blindages 
and redoubts. "I should have liked far better," he writes, "to 
have been down in the valley helping the Bersaglieri in their 
capture of Lappio, but obedience is the foremost virtue of the 
soldier. And so I adapted myself to the hermitage assigned to 
me and becoming a carpenter, road builder and mason, during 
the day, while I spent the long nights reading patriotic poetry 
to my soldiers." Does not this utterance reveal his soul? 

In this sector his stay was a short one, for after a few days 
his Alpine troops were sent down to Loppio as reinforcements. 
With his platoon he was the first to enter six houses at one end 

Page twenty-nine 



CESARE BATTISTI AND THE TRENTINO 




Page thirty 



CESARE BATTISTI AND THE TRENTINO 

of the hamlet, and for the first time had the opportmiity of 
seeing another kind of warfare, more awful than the high monn- 
tain warfare which was so well known to him. On December 
24, 1915, he writes: "War here looks far more lugnbrious and 
tragic than up in the mountains: here war is not only waged 
by soldiers against soldiers, but it vents its brutality against 
everything, against any kind of material, against defenseless 
people, against the land itself." 

Fifteen days later he took part in the famous engagement 
at Maiga Zures, above Nago, where, as he wrote himself, "many 
patriots from Trentino fell, displaying such conspicuous hero- 
ism that it was noticed and recorded by the colonel in his daily 
records. The feeling on both sides ran so high during that en- 
gagement that when the munitioiT,s gave out the fight was con- 
tinued with rocks and rifle-butt blows in a terrible, general 
mix-up." 

After this engagement, he was cited again for another medal 
and advanced to the rank of first lieutenant for gallantry. As 
first lieutenant he was sent to the general headquarters of the 
First Army at Verona; his duties consisted in accompanying 
commissions of inspection to the front, and other special work. 

With more leisure hours during the evenings, Battisti dis- 
poses of these, not for rest, but for more work; and this, after 
having been at the front for seven months without interruption, 
after having risked his life a thousand times, and just after 
emerging from a most terrible and bloody battle. Indeed, he 
appears like a hero from Plutarch. Trentino is, of course, the 
subject of these lucubrations wrenched from sleep and rest — 
Trentino, the great passion, the religion of his life — Trentino, 
for which he died. 

"At the time I joined the army," he says, "I had left un- 
finished a historical work, entitled 'Forerunners and Martyrs 
of the Redemption of Trento. ' It was a series of biographies, 
beginning with Gazzoletti and the politicians from 1818 and 
1866, down to our Garibaldini, to Dr. CVirlo de Bertolini, to 
Scipio Sighele ; to these I ought now to add, unhappily, Albino 
Zenatti." 

Page thirty-one 



CESARE BATTISTI AND THE TRENTINO 

This was not the only work that kept hmi busy in that pe- 
riod of supposed rest ; he left many memoirs on the viability of 
Trentino and other economic problems, representing his pre- 
parative work for the post-war reconstruction. 

Meanwhile, the Austrian offensive in the highlands was 
under way. The 27th of April, 1916, in a letter to me, he 
writes: '' Austrian preparations against us are assuming enor- 
mous proportions, Austria's intention is to repeat against us 
the German attack on Verdun, l)ut we are well organized. "We 
can oppose not only men brmiming over with en_thusiasm and 
courage, but munitions aplenty and no end of defenses." 

The offensive takes place, and nothing can hold Battisti in 
Verona any longer; he insistently requests to be sent to the 
front. The end of May his request is granted, and he is given 
the command of a marching company belonging to the Vicenza 
battalion of the Sixth Alpine Regiment. Attached to the same 
company are Dr. Fabio Filzi, from Rovereto, a friend and ad- 
mirer of Battisti, and forty very young soldiers of the district 
of Verona, who, though simple peasants, had asked to be as- 
signed to that company in order to fight under Battisti. Can 
we conceive anything finer than this spontaneous offering of 
themselves to an idea represented in a man! 

The 29th of May, Battisti, with his Alpine soldiers, entered 
Trentino territory at Vallarsa, and during almost the entire 
month of Jiuie one assault followed the other. From those 
rugged crags he wrote many a touching letter to his Emesta, 
his life companion, the egregious woman that now so nobly 
guards his name. Sometimes, between the pages, there was the 
fragrance of the lily-of-the-valley, the blue forget-me-not, or the 
scarlet rhododendron ; but later, when the troops reach the limit 
of the eternal snows, he writes: ''I cannot send you any more 
flowers. I am encamped up in the mountains at 6,000 feet; the 
scenery is marvelous. A magnificent flora just begins to sprout 
under the snow. You know how glad I would be to send you 
more flowers ! I am always thinking of you and my dear chil- 
dren!" 

Gigino, Camillo, Livietta, these are the names of Bat- 

Fage thirty-tzvo 



CESARE BATTISTI AND THE TRENTINO 

tisti's three children. All his thoughts, while campaigning, are 
for them and their mother, and he has faith that their love for 
him will carry him safely throngh. "I strongly believe in and 
feel assured of my individual luck," he writes, "you and my 
children protect me." 

On the Fourth of July he reaches the summit of the fatal 
mountain where he was to be captured. He writes to his wife : 
"I am in receipt of yours of the 23rd instant. It reaches me 
on the eastern top of Monte C^orno, an ugly conglomerate of de- 
caying rocks that we have been trying to get from the Aus- 
trians. It is a desperate conflict. We live, hanging, so to 
speak, to the walls of the mountain, without tents, often with- 
out food, always without water, eating snow instead. The war 
we are waging these days is terrible, engagements following 
one another in rapid succession. But it is a necessity. "We 
must win — we shall win." 

The following day, writing to Gigino, he says: "I know that 
you are anxious to enlist, but I aia very much afraid that you 
will not succeed owing to the precarious condition of your 
health. Do not let this discourage you; there are many other 
ways of fulfilling your duty to your country on other occa- 
sions." 

It is to be noted that Gigino was then only sixteen years old ; 
that his father was not dissuading him from enlisting, but 
simply trying to console him in the event of his not being ac- 
cepted as a volunteer. This Gigino tried repeatedly, but in 
vain. He was accepted only in the winter o^ '017, and the 
writer of this booklet had the honor of being n. instructor in 
the Alpine company to which he was attached. 

At the end of June, 1916, Battisti sent to Miss Avis AVater- 
man, an American, then war correspondent for the Times at the 
Italian front, that famous letter in which every word is a glorifi- 
cation of the Italian war and of the Alpine Corps. It was pub- 
lished in all the newspapers a few days after his death. 

On the 10th of July the battle of ]\ronte Corno took place, 
and during this engagement he was taken prisoner. His com- 

Page thirty-three 



CESARE BATTISTI AND THE TRENTINO 




0\ 



o 

3 



a 



^ 









o 

o 
U 




> 



Prtc/r thiyty-four 



CESARE BATTISTI AND THE TRENTINO 

pany had succeeded in securing an advanced position, but a 
deep curtain of gunfire forbade any communication witli the 
units in the rear and completely isolated the company. This 
enabled the Austrians to surround these heroes and capture 
them after they were greatly reduced in numbers. 

Battisti and Filzi kept on fighting miraculously to the very 
last without receiving a scratch. They were made prisoners. 
They knew what kind of death was in store for them; they might 
have put an end to their lives, but they did not. It was rumored 
that a renegade recognized them. I do not know. Such in- 
famous betrayal was not necessary, as Battisti was altogether 
too universally known; he could not rely on his incognito, nor 
w^as he the man to deny his identity if questioned. He con- 
sciously entered the path of martyrdom, unhesitatingly, of his 
own free will. • - 

The Austrians expressed indecent joy at the conspicuous 
capture — they lost no time in sending the prisoner to Trento. A 
Czech corporal, who later deserted to our side, reported that he 
had seen him on the road between Trento and Galliano, proceed- 



Castle ot 
Buon Consiglio 



where Battisti was hung, 
July 12th, 1916 




Page tliirty-fi-vc 



CESARE BATTISTI AND THE TRENTINO 




Battisti being conducted before the Military 
Tribunal in the Castle of Buon Consiglio 

iiig afoot with calm and assured demeanor, surrounded by a 
squad of soldiers headed by a first corporal. Another witness 
recounts that at a certain ])oint the scjuad made a halt to rest 
and entered the cotta,g'e of a road worker. Battisti, his tongue 
parched with thirst from the excessive heat and the dust of the 
road, asked for a drink. The corporal agreed. He had .just 
washed his hands in a Inisin of water, and this was the drink he 
offered to Battisti. 

Paoc thirty-six 



CES ARE BATTIST I AND THE TRENT IN O 

In Treiito the police had gathered in the square of the Cas- 
tello a villainous mob, mostly plainclothes policemen, who had 
been paid to jeer Battisti. The police commissioner was im- 
pudent enongh to say to Battisti: "Yonr Honor, here are your 
people greeting you." To which Battisti made the following- 
rejoinder : ' ' No, sir, the true people of the Trentino are not here ; 
they are in the trenches, where they are fighting for Italy, or in 
the concentration camps or in the prisons, where you have eon- 
fined them, or in their homes, where they weep for the ruin 
which you have brought upon their country. ' ' 

He was to be executed on the 12th of July. Austria thought 
proper to place on the records of civilization the glorious event, 
for her, by reproducing in all the illustrated papers of the em- 
pire the photograph of Battisti, accompanied from his cell to 
the scaffold, with these words underneath the illustration : ' ' The 
last w^alk of the arch traitor. Dr. Cesare Battisti." 

In the illustration Battisti shows his wonted demeanor of a 
poet and a knight; those poor soldiers, whose duty it is to es- 
cort him, and the big, ignoble policeman at their head, look 
more like servile followers than executioners. The glorious 
light that irradiates from the hero contrasts with the expres- 
sion of subdued shame in his custodians. 

Before stepping on the scaffold, a priest of Czech extraction 
gave the hero the last religious rights. "I entreat you," Bat- 
tisti said to him, "to make it known to my brothers that I am 
glad to die for Italy, without fear of the Austrians and their 
gallows." 

Soon afterward, Lang, the hangman, placed the noose 
around his neck and pushed him off his feet so that the body 
w^ould hang in empty space — but the rope, too weak to support 
his gigantic frame, snapped. Battisti, half-dead, fell to the 
ground; he loosened the rope, still taut around his neck, and 
once more, for the last time, shouted in a hoarse voice: "Viva 
ITtalia, abbasso I'Austria" (Italy forever, down with Aus- 
tria!). 

The hangman's second attempt was successful. He and 
the witnesses seem to be very proud of this accomplish- 

Page thirty-sc-vcn 



CESARE BATTISTI AND THE TRENTINO 




The hangman placing the noose around Battisti's neck 



meiit, as is shown hy the photograph which is here reproduced, 
and which was circnhated among the popular magazines by the 
Austrian Government— not ])eing then aware of her own guilt. 
Nothing is more impressive than the contrast between the 
Christ-like face of the martyr and the soul-deprived face of the 
hangman, with its ignoble grin. 

His companion and disciple, Dr. Fabio Filzi— another noble 
figure of a soldier and a martyr— followed a few moments later 
as young Damiano Chiesa had preceded them two months before. 

This most awful crime of Austria caused a mighty sensa- 
tion throughout the civilized world. In Rome, on the 20th of 
July, an imposing mass-meeting at the Capitol solemnly swore 
to win the war and erect a monument to the martyr-hero in 
the liberated city of Trento as a perpetual reminder to future 
generations of his sacrifice for Italy. 

Every year since then has witnessed imposing public dem- 

Page tliirty-cight 



CESARE BATTISTI AND THE TRENTINO 

onstrations in Italy as well as abroad. This year, some time 
before the victory of the Piave, more than nine thousand refu- 
gees from Trentino signed an address to H, M., the King of 
Italy, the occasion being the second anniversary, of the martyr- 
dom of Cesare Battisti, in which they expressed their assurance 
that the great hope of the martyr would soon be an accom- 
plished fact, declaring themselves prepared for any sacrifice. 

In Trentino itself, despite the suspicious vigilance of Aus- 
tria, Battisti 's cult soon spread. Effigies of the hero so often 
found sewed in the garments of the people, between the cloth 
and the lining, bear witness to this. 

Among the expressions of symiDathy extended in this sad- 
dest of occurrences by notable people, I want to quote Dr. 
Osusky, now a representative in London of the Czecho-Slovak 
republic : 

'* Battisti was sentenced and hanged as a traitor, which he 
was not, having been staunchly faithful until death to Italy, his 
true country. If the Austro-Germans and Magyars, by way of 
a smashing defeat, could in the future become new human 
creatures, they would bless the memory of Battisti, who spent 
the best of his strength to save Italian blood from the Austrian 
tyrants and to stop them from their continuous sins against 
Providence and humanity." • 

Allow me also to quote a distinguished American woman, 
Mrs. Vera B. Whitehouse, director of the American Bureau on 
Public Information in Berne. She writes: "Let me, a simple 
citizen of the United States, express to the Italians my heart- 
felt sympathy on this occasion of the anniversary of their great 
patriot's death, who was so horribly murdered because guilty 
of believing in the principles of liberty and justice for which 
our countries are fighting, for which he worked and fought. 
With the inspiration that comes from his death, let us strive to 
obtain with quicker, redoubled exertion the only possible solu- 
tion — victory over despotism." 

With the murder of Cesare Battisti Austria thought to have 
entirely broken the fighting spirit of the Italian irredeuti. Quite 

Page fklrly-ninr 



CESARE BATTISTI AND THE TRENTINO 



the contrary. A few weeks later we see Nazario Saiiro, an 
Istrian, sailing from Ancona bent on a very dangerons expedi- 
tion to tlie opposite Adriatic shore. He is caught and, sharing 
the fate of Battisti, thrown into prison, then hanged. It is the 
answer of the martyr from the Adriatic shore to the martyr 




The Hangman proudly exhibiting Battisti's dead body 



hailing from the Alps of Trentiuo, cementing the two sections 
of the conntry in one single faith, one single ideal, against one 
common enemy. 

Page forty 



CESARE BATTISTI AND THE TRENTINO 

A few days after the execution of Cesare Battisti, a young 
Trentino Jientenant aviator, Baron Vittorio Emanuele a Prato, 
flying low over the Castello at Trento, amid a storm of bullets, 
let fall on the grave a huge wreath of flowers tied with a ril)- 
bon on which was the dedication: "To the martyr-hero, who 
will be glorified by redeemed Trento in the near future of our 
liberation. ' ' 

The day of lilieration was not yet near, but it came, Italy 
deserved it, and won it by her struggles, her sacrifices and her 
bravery without end. 

At the battle of the Piave, begun on October 22nd, fifty-three 
Italian divisions, aided by three British divisions, two French 
divisions, one Czecho-Slovak division and one American regi- 
ment against seventy-three very efficient Austrian divisions, 
Italy victoriously occupied Trento on November 3rd, before the 
signing of the armistice. 

A few days later, when King Victor Emanuel III, entered 
Trento, and received the local authorities in the city hall, he 
was approached by a young aspirant lieutenant in the Alpine 
Corps. The young man was Gigino Battisti, son of the martyr. 
The King embraced him as a beloved son. Later His Majesty 
gave to the memory of Cesare Battisti the highest reward for 
bravery, the golden medal. 

Cesare Battisti has already attained immortalit}^ in the 
hearts of all Italians. His martyrdom represents the greatest 
moral defeat of Austria ; on the other hand, it represents Italy's 
most sublime aspirations. 

But the people of Trentino will always keenly feel his loss. 
He was an integral part of the country, which he knew in all 
its aspects; he had walked its rugged dales so often, he had 
studied it so well. Battisti alone knew how to reveal with the 
touch of a master the innermost and most lovable feelings of 
our mountaineers. He was a counsellor as well as a leader of 
men, and possessed the grit that knows no defeat. Nobody can 
recall a word of discouragement whose utterance adverse cir- 
cumstances may have justified. 

Page for/y-onr 



CESARE BATTIST I AND THE TRENTINO 

He spoke little, but accomplished much. So his voice was 
heard only when he deemed it necessary to overcome obstacles, 
to encourage flagging spirits, to urge to more strenuous efforts. 

He put reality above appearance, action before words, and 
made sacrifice to an ideal the constant vocation of his life. We 
do not know which to praise more — his strong will or his spirit 
of self-denial; both qualities are equalled only by his intense 
Jove for the poor, the humble, the toiler, and his pure love of 
Ms native Trentino and mother Italy. His nationalism was not 
jingoism, but blended harmoniously with the high aspirations 
and ideals of a sane socialism. 

Having dedicated his whole life to his country, to her he 
also gave the last full measure of devotion. But Trentino, too, 
through him, offered to the mother country one of the best 
among its sons ; the inost heroic of all. And whenever our coun- 
try shall be confronted liy a moral or political crisis, it mil 
suffice to remember Battisti in order promptly to find the right 
way. 

For many a century Trentino will remember Cesare Battisti. 
But not Trentino alone, nor Ital}^ must be proud of such a citi- 
zen ; the whole world should cherish and honor his memory, for 
he was not only a soldier fighting for the unification of Italy, 
hut the soldier of a universal idea of justice and good-will, A 
leaf for him in the national history of Italy, a page for him in 
the history of all mankind! 



Page fnrty-tivo 



CESARE BATTISTI AND THE TRENTINO 



APPENDIX 

The A^enezia Tridentina (Trentino and Alto Adige) 

The Trentino is, together with the Upper Adige, a part of a 
compact geographical region, more particularly called Venezia 
Tridentina. It is formed by the southern part of the old Aus- 
trian province of Tyrol; it is bounded on the north by the water- 
shed line of the Central -Oriental Alps. The waters that run to 
the north of this watershed find their outlet in the Black Sea. 
The waters that run to the south, are all tributaries of the Adige 
River, which eventually finds its outlet in the Adriatic. 

About 200 B. G. this region was occupied hj the Romans, and 
the greater part, including the Trentino and the Bolzano Dis- 
trict in the Upper Adige, formed under Augustus and his suc- 
cessors the tenth Italian region, together with the Venezia and 
Istria. 

In the Middle Ages the Trentino was practically governed by 
Bishops, who therefore, bore the title of Princes. It always was, 
how^ever, under the control of the Counts of Tyrol who later be- 
came the Emperors of Austria, 

In 1803 the Princedom of the Bishops was abolished and the 
Trentino continually changed hands during the turbulent Napo- 
leonic Era, until in 1810, it was annexed by Napoleon to the 
Kingdom of Italy under the name of Department of the Upper 
Adige. This regime, of which the population still l)ears pleasant 
memories, lasted too short a time, because in 1813 Austria again 
took possession of the Trentino and annexed it to the Germanic 
Confederation. This prevented the Trentino from obtaining its 
freedom when Lombardy and Veneto were freed in 1859, 1866. 

In the Trentino the population is exclusively and completely 
Italian. Its surface is 6,356 square kilometers and the resident 
population in 1910 was 386,437, with an average of 61 inhab- 
itants for each scpiare kilometer. 

On the contrary, the great majority is German in the terri- 
tory of the Upper Adige, which has a surface of 7,178 square 
kilometers. It is largeh^ a mountainous country, and not very 
productive. It had in 1910 a resident population of 243,503 Avitli 

Parff forty-tliree 



CESARE BATTISTI AND THE TRENTINO 

an average of 33.7 inhabitants for each square kilometer. 

In ancient times even the population of the Upper Adige had 
been Romanized, and today tliere are still vis.ible traces of Latin 
civilization. Two valleys (Gardena and Badia) still speak a 
Latin dialect, while more than 30,000 Italians are scattered in 
this region, most of them between Salorno and Merano. But 
with the passing of the centuries the Barbaric invasions suc- 
ceeded in denting the compactness of the Latin population, and 
the successive actions of the Austrian Governments further 
favored this result. 

In the Trentino there is a large and varied agriculture, 
from the vineyards to the silk worm, from fruit groves to 
forests, from grain to pasture lands and live stock; eighty-seven 
per cent, of her surface is productive area. More than two- 
thirds of this productive area is constituted of pasture lands in 
the high mountains, and woods. It is a country of small landed 
proprietors, but the pasture lands and the woods are generally 
the property of the municipalities who allow the use of them to 
the citizens. 

In the Trentino there are very fine summer and winter re- 
sorts. In the LTpper Adige the climate is somewhat more bitter, 
and the productive area is smaller than in Trentino. There the 
vineyards are only located in the Bolzano and Merano Districts. 
The principal products are pasture lands, live stock and wood. 

Very important in Trentino, as well as in the Alto Adige, is 
the tourist industry, for tourists come here in summer as well 
as in winter, to enjoy the beauty of the landscape and to climb 
the celebrated mountains, especially the Dolomites. After 
its annexation to the Kingdom of Itah^, the Trentino will have a 
wonderful industrial and commercial future, that had, so far, 
been uno1)tainable under the Austrian Government, on account 
of being too remote from the markets and on account of the 
competition that was offered to any Italian industry by the in- 
terests of Bohpmia and Lower Austria, who possessed rich coal 
and iron mines. 

It is calculated that in the Trentino there exists the possibility 
of obtaining more than 200,000 H.P. from its water courses; and 

Page forty-four 



CESARE BATTISTI AND THE TRENTINO 

a little more than that can be obtained in the Alto Adige. This 
calculation was made l:)efore the war when the price of coal was 
infinitely lower than at the present time, so that the financial ad- 
vantag'e of the transformation of the hydranlic power into elec- 
tric power is now greatly increased. 

The Venezia Tridentina constitutes the principal door open- 
ing from Italy northward, and a formidable bridge-head in the 
very body of the Italian peninsula. If this should remain in for- 
eign hands, Italy will never he secure. Sixty-six times the l)ar- 
barians invaded Italy through this passagew-ay, thanks to the 
control they happened to have on both the Alto Adige and the 
Trentino. The absolute possession of these regions is therefore 
for Italy an undeniable necessity. And this does not clash with 
Riry principle of nationality, inasmuch as about seven-tenths of 
the entire population of the Venezia Tridentina is Italian or 
Latin. 

The Trentino is a countr}^ that has given Italy many men who 
have made history, such as Alessandro Vittoria, a sculptor 
that could well be compared to Bernini, a painter such as 
Giovanni Segantini, the greatest of Italian landscape painters of 
the past century; Giovanni Prati, the poet; the living musician, 
Antonio Zandonai; Antonio Rosmini, the great philosopher of 
the past century, and Mr. Caproni, the inventor and constructor 
of the famous aeroplanes which aided so efficienth' in winning 
the war. , - '%iJ. ■„ . . » 

In the present war the Trentino has given Itah^ about three 
thousand volunteers, one hundred and fifty of whom were killed 
on the battlefield and five hundred were wounded. AVe are still 
uncertain about the number of those who shared the fate of our 
great hero and martyr, Cesare Battisti. 

All the political parties of the Trentino have always been 
staunch defenders of the national principle. For having refused 
to bow to Austria's will, which amounted to renouncing his 
ideals, the Prince Bishop of Trento, Monsignor Endrici, who 
can be compared to Cardinal Mercier for nobility and loftiness 
of character, was interned in a monastery near Vienna, and 
forbidden to correspond with the mem1)ers of his Diocese. 

PnffC forty-fi-vc 



CESARE BATTISTI AND THE TRENTINO 



Over 40,000 Treiitini were interned in concentration camps in 
northern Austria and Styria, and treated not mncli better than 
common criminals, compelled to live in hideons snrronndings 
and promiscuity, in unhealthy barracks, being furnished with 
only the bare necessities to prevent them from actual starvation. 

The Venezia Tridentina is now actually reunited to Italy as 
it was under the Roman emperors, thanks to the great Italian 
victory of last November and to the support of the Allies. There 
is no doubt but that the Peace Conference will also assign her 
entirely to Italy, as is fair and just. 

G. L. 




Three Martyrs of the Trentino 



Page forty -six 



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The Dante Alighieri Monument 
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